HOME
*



picture info

Ægir
Ægir (anglicised as Aegir; Old Norse 'sea'), Hlér (Old Norse 'sea'), or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly 'sea, engulfer'), is a jötunn and a personification of the sea in Norse mythology. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the gods in his halls and is associated with brewing ale. Ægir is attested as married to a goddess, Rán, who also personifies the sea, and together the two produced daughters who personify waves, the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán, and Ægir's son is Snær, personified snow. Ægir may also be the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, wife of the god Freyr, or these may be two separate figures who share the same name (see below and Gymir (father of Gerðr)). One of Ægir's names, ''Hlér'', is the namesake of the island Læsø (Old Norse ''Hléysey'' 'Hlér's island') and perhaps also Lejre in Denmark. Scholars have long analyzed Ægir's role in the Old Norse corpus, and the concept of the figure has had some influence in modern popular culture. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Rán
In Norse mythology, Rán (Old Norse: ) is a goddess and a personification of the sea. Rán and her husband Ægir, a jötunn who also personifies the sea, have nine daughters, who personify waves. The goddess is frequently associated with a net, which she uses to capture sea-goers. According to the prose introduction to a poem in the ''Poetic Edda'' and in ''Völsunga saga'', Rán once loaned her net to the god Loki. Rán is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled during the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the ''Prose Edda'', written during the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; in both ''Völsunga saga'' and '' Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna''; and in the poetry of skalds, such as ''Sonatorrek'', a 10th-century poem by Icelandic skald Egill Skallagrímsson. Etymology The Old Norse common noun ''rán'' means 'plundering' or 'theft, robbery'.Faulkes (1998: 250) and discussion in Simek (2007 993 260). In turn, scholars view the theonym ''Rán'' as meaning, for exam ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Nine Daughters Of Ægir And Rán
In Norse mythology, the goddess Rán and the jötunn Ægir both personify the sea, and together they have nine daughters who personify waves. Each daughter's name reflects poetic terms for waves. The sisters are attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the ''Prose Edda'', composed in the 13th century; and in the poetry of skalds. Scholars have theorized that these daughters may be the same figures as the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr, nine mothers of the god Heimdallr. Names The names of Ægir and Rán's daughters occur commonly in Old Norse sources. Lists of their names appear twice in ''Skáldskaparmál'', a section of the ''Prose Edda'' (for detail, see ''Prose Edda'' section below). Attestations ''Poetic Edda'' References to the waves as 'Ægir's daughters' appear in the ''Poetic Edda''. The poem ''Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' describes how the hero Helgi's boat crashes through intense seas, in doing so referencing Rán, Ægi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Gymir (father Of Gerðr)
Gymir (Old Norse: ) is a jötunn in Norse mythology. He is the spouse of Aurboða, and the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, who married the god Freyr. ''Gymir'' may be the same figure as Ægir, a personification of the sea or ocean, or a separate figure who shares the same name. Name The meaning of the Old Norse name ''Gymir'' is unclear. Proposed translations include 'the earthly' (from Old Norse ''gumi''), 'the wintry one' (from ''gemla''), or 'the protector', the 'engulfer' (from ''geyma''). In ''Lokasenna'' (Loki's Flyting) and ''Skáldskaparmál'' (The Language of Poetry), Gymir is given by Snorri Sturluson as an alternative name for the divine personification of the sea Ægir. Rudolf Simek argues that it may be an erroneous interpretation of kennings in which different giant-names are used interchangeably. Attestations ''Poetic Edda'' In both '' Skírnismál'' (The Lay of Skírnir) and ''Gylfaginning'' (The Beguiling of Gylfi), Gymir is portrayed as the spouse of ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Læsø
Læsø ("Isle of Hlér") is the largest island in the North Sea bay of Kattegat, and is located off the northeast coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the Danish mainland. Læsø is also the name of the municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') on that island. The island is a location mentioned in several instances in Old Norse sources detailing Norse mythology. Name and Norse mythology The modern Danish form of the island's name, ''læsø'', developed from Old Norse ''Hlésey'', meaning ' Hlér's island'.McKinnell (2005:110) and Faulkes (1995:59). Hlér (Old Norse 'sea'), also known as ''Ægir'' (also Old Norse 'sea'), is a jötunn and personification of the sea in Norse mythology whose nine daughters personify waves. Similarly, the Danish city of Lejre may also derive from ''Hlér''. In the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''Hárbarðsljóð'', the god Thor comments that it was on Hlésey that he was attacked by (and so fought) "berserk women" or "brides of berserks" who had bewitched all ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Snær
In Norse mythology, Snær (Old Norse Snærr, East Norse Sniō, Latin Nix, Nivis, English "snow") is seemingly a personification of snow, appearing in extant text as an euhemerized legendary Scandinavian king. Icelandic tradition In the '' Orkneyinga saga'', Snow the Old (''Snærr hinn gamli'') is son of Frosti 'frost' son of Kári. In the account called '' Hversu Noregr byggdist'' ('How Norway was inhabited') in the '' Flatey Book'', Snær is son of Jökul (''Jǫkull'' 'icicle, ice, glacier') son of Kári. This Kári is lord of the wind and brother of Ægir or Hlér and Logi, all three being sons of the giant Fornjót. Fornjót was the king of ''"Gotlandi, Kænlandi and Finnlandi"'' and Snaer bears the title of a king too. Snow's son in ''Orkneyinga saga'' and ''Hversu'' is Thorri 'frozen-snow'. The ''Hversu'' also gives Snow three daughters: Fön (''Fǫnn'' 'Snowdrift'), Drífa 'snowfall', and Mjöl (''Mjǫll'', 'powdered snow'). ''Sturlaugs saga'' (section 22) brings in King Sn ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Gerðr
In Norse mythology, Gerðr (Old Norse: ; "fenced-in"Orchard (1997:54).) is a jötunn, goddess, and the wife of the god Freyr. Gerðr is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the ''Prose Edda'' and ''Heimskringla'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and in the poetry of skalds. ''Gerðr'' is sometimes modernly anglicized as Gerd or Gerth. In both the ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'', Freyr sees Gerðr from a distance, becomes deeply lovesick at the sight of her shimmering beauty, and has his servant Skírnir go to Jötunheimr (where Gerðr and her father Gymir reside) to gain her love. In the ''Poetic Edda'' Gerðr initially refuses, yet after a series of threats by Skírnir she is forced to yield. In the ''Prose Edda'', no mention of threats is made. In both sources, Gerðr agrees to meet Freyr at a fixed time at the location of Barri and, after Skírnir returns with Gerðr's response, Freyr laments t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Skáldskaparmál
''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''. The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ... and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined. The origin of a number of '' kennings'' is given; then Bragi delivers a systematic list of ''kennings'' for various people, places and things. He then goes on to discuss poetic language in some detail, in particular '' heiti'', the concept of poetical words which are non-periphrastic (like ''steed'' for ''horse''), and again systematises these. This in a way forms an early form of poetic thesaurus. Refe ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Jötunn
A (also jotun; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; ; plural / ) or, in Old English, (plural ) is a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, they are often contrasted with gods ( Æsir and Vanir) and other non-human figures, such as dwarfs and elves, although the groupings are not always mutually exclusive. The entities themselves are referred to by several other terms, including , (or ) and if male and or if female. The typically dwell across boundaries from the gods and humans in lands such as . The are frequently attested throughout the Old Norse record, with also featuring in the Old English epic poem ''Beowulf''. The usage of the terms is dynamic, with an overall trend that the beings become portrayed as less impressive and more negative as Christianity becomes more influential. Although the term " giant" is sometimes used to gloss the word "" and its apparent synonyms in some translations and academic texts, are n ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Hversu Noregr Byggðist
''Hversu Noregr byggðist'' ( non, How Norway was inhabited) is an account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages, which survives only in the ''Flateyjarbók''. It traces the descendants of the primeval Fornjót, a king of ''"Gotland, Kænland and Finnland"'', down to Nór, who is here the eponym and first great king of Norway, and then gives details of the descendants of Nór (and of his brother Gór) in a following section known as the ''Ættartölur'', 'Genealogies'. The ''Hversu'' account is closely paralleled by the opening of the '' Orkneyinga saga'', which gives a slightly different version of the story and provides details on the descendants of Gór only, including information not found in the ''Hversu'' or ''Ættartölur''. This opening portion of Orkneyingers saga is also known as Fundinn Noregr, 'Founding of Norway'. Much of the material in these two accounts is found nowhere else, especially the tracing of many noble families to the stock of giants rath ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Kenning
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English poetry. They continued to be a feature of Icelandic poetry (including ''rímur'') for centuries, together with the closely related heiti. A kenning has two parts: a base-word (also known as a head-word) and a determinant. For example, the base-word of the kenning "íss rauðra randa" ('icicle of red shields' WORD Einarr Skúlason: ''Øxarflokkr'' 9) is ''íss'' ('ice, icicle') and the determinant is ''rǫnd'' ('rim, shield-rim, shield'). The thing, person, place or being to which the kenning refers is known as its referent (in this case a sword). Although kennings are sometimes hyphenated in English translation, Old Norse poetry did not require kennings to be in normal word order, nor do the parts of the kenning need to be side-by-side. T ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Indo-European Languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch, and Spanish, have expanded through colonialism in the modern period and are now spoken across several continents. The Indo-European family is divided into several branches or sub-families, of which there are eight groups with languages still alive today: Albanian, Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Indo-Iranian, and Italic; and another nine subdivisions that are now extinct. Today, the individual Indo-European languages with the most native speakers are English, Hindi–Urdu, Spanish, Bengali, French, Russian, Portuguese, German, and Punjabi, each with over 100 million native speakers; many others are small and in danger of extinction. In total, 46% of the world's population (3.2 billion people) speaks an ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Skald
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally composed on one occasion, sometimes extempore, and include both extended works and single verses ('' lausavísur''). They are characteristically more ornate in form and diction than eddic poems, employing many kennings and heiti, more interlacing of sentence elements, and the complex '' dróttkvætt'' metre. More than 5,500 skaldic verses have survived, preserved in more than 700 manuscripts, including in several sagas and in Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda'', a handbook of skaldic composition that led to a revival of the art. Many of these verses are fragments of originally longer works, and the authorship of many is unknown. The earliest known skald from whom verses survive is Bragi Boddason, known as Bragi the Old, a Norwegian ska ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]